Unpacking Barack Obama's Speech

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Well I won't totally unpack the entire speech here, since I've written an entire article about it. Yet I will say that I believe the reason that the media jumped on the bandwagon almost immediately attesting that it wasn't a Home Run speech was that it contained a lot of references to lowly slaves, especially at the beginning and first half, and yes, I'm suggesting that perhaps some latent racism had a hard time celebrating the truth about the horrors that America's slaves endured.

I think we were so used to Obama's prose and his cheerleading, that the repeated stark reminders of what some slaves endured decades ago--providing the very foundation for all of us--being revisited in vivid language was insufficiently uplifting to garner a home run accolade.

Believe me, in reading the text, there are significant and repeated references to those who fought for all of us--military and slaves.

He invoked God's promise that "all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

Ours has "not been the path of the faint-hearted...but rather the risk takers, the doers..men and women obscure in their labour who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."

"They toiled in sweatshops....endured the lash of the whip" all referred again to the foundation that was laid largely by the slaves in this country. Remarkably we celebrated the Inauguration on property and buildings where slaves once worked, and "worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life."

He chastises those who have short memories, forgetting what "this country has already done," and urges us to consider "what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage."

"We have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord" was surely a line that will be quoted for decades. "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America" was another.

He masterfully wove a thread of hope through an assessment of America's systemic wreckage, beseeching each of us to do our civic duties, to step up and act, and to make long overdue hard decisions.

I thought he did a masterful job, and so again, I disagree with the media.

Congratulations President Barack Obama. And congratulations Malia; your dad's speech more than fulfilled your "it better be good" challenge.